Friday, April 20, 2007

Long Islanders seem to be expressing themselves much more than Brooklynites about the soon-to-be-accomplished KeySpan/ National Grid merger. Do the Islanders have more of a beef?

At a public info session in Smithtown Friday Long Islanders expressed "a mix of concern and optimism" about Long Island Power Authority's proposed service agreements with National Grid and KeySpan, reports Newsday. Long Island residents want National Grid to overhaul the region's "antiquated" power plants, Newsday says.

A representative for Assemblyman Marc Alessi said he was concerned Long Islanders were signing on to "subpar service for their hard-earned money" given National Grid's much criticized service record in the Northeast. So what does that mean for Brooklyn?

(History: The Long Island Lighting Co. (LILCO) merged with Brooklyn Union Gas in 1998 to form KeySpan.)